Family Ties: Roald Dahl’s Grandson Luke Kelly Comes Out With a New Children’s Book

Despite being the grandson of Roald Dahl, Luke Kelly never thought he’d author a children’s book. But, disillusioned with his fledgling career in politics, he found himself writing more and more in his free time, eventually moving to a cabin in New Hampshire to focus on his craft, in between his full-time job of managing the family oversight of the Dahl estate. After three years (“I think my friends are expecting Moby Dick,” he jokes), Blanket & Bear, A Remarkable Pair, the first of three books he’s publishing with Putnam, drops today. In it, Kelly tells the story of a lost stuffed bear and blanket that travel to find their owner. While he doesn’t claim to take inspiration from his family lineage, it does serve as motivation. “I think I’m constantly reminded of the power of [my grandfather’s] stories, and how they have such strength that they can be reworked and reimagined and yet stay very true to themselves,” he says. And Dahl’s work does live on through theater (Matilda the Musical currently plays on Broadway and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened on London’s West End this summer) and movies, with names like Johnny Depp, Wes Anderson, and even Meryl Streep involved. Vogue.com caught up with Kelly, learning about his inspiration, process, and family.

On writing children’s books:I’m assuming part of that has to do with my grandfather, and growing up surrounded by the discussion of children’s books, and the family stewarding Roald’s works, which is what I now do. My job for the Dahl estate is to be interested and fluent in the whole world of children’s books, but it’s also personal, so it’s nice to be able to work on something that you really adore and have spent your whole life soaked in. There’s something quite freeing about being able to write for a child’s imagination.

On his grandfather:I was pretty young when he died, but I definitely have strong memories of him, and his legacy in the family—not just helping to make sure his works continue to be loved by new generations—but also his legacy in terms of the weight of his personality on the whole family. He was a strong presence. I had kind of a tumultuous childhood and as a teenager I ended up moving back into my grandfather’s home in England, where his widow, my grandmother, was living. So for about ten years I lived in the home that was so indelibly his. There’s a kind of fairy tale magic about Gipsy House—actually several of the illustrations in the book draw from it. It’s a rambling Georgian cottage, with Turner’s paintbrushes, amazing Russian art, Mayan headdresses on the walls, and odd pieces of wood that look like Francis Bacons, you know, things like that. It has a very special feel.

On the inspiration for Blanket & Bear:I moved eighteen times in sixteen years, all over the place, and I think that does involve a fair amount of tumult and losing things, and having to have a sense of adventure. I also went off to boarding school in England at the age of seven. So I think that all feeds into the story of getting lost. I didn’t actually have that one toy that I lost when I was a child, but I have a tortoise who’s gone with me to all those houses and he’s run away and gotten lost and come back. He’s 70 years old and his name is Tortie (pictured)—it’s the name you give to a tortoise when you’re a tiny child. But in terms of stuffed animals, my cousin Chloe had this sheep stuffed animal that she was absolutely obsessed with and she lost it on a plane, and was just devastated. She would call up every day to the airplane and say ‘Have they found it, have they found it?’ and eventually she was told that it had probably been destroyed, which literally broke her heart. I remember thinking about that when I started writing this, and thinking it would be nice to have a story where toys do get lost, but then they go and retire.

On living in New Hampshire:One of the main reasons that I’m up in this cabin in New Hampshire is that I moved so much growing up—to India, and Boston, and New York, and all around England—and it really led me to want a very solid sense of home. And I think that’s what they eventually find in the book, but it’s also why one might choose to go and stay in a log cabin in New Hampshire, in a nice pastoral little town.

On advice from the family:My grandfather was definitely a patriarch, but it’s also a family of many matriarchs . . . layers of matriarchs! It’s a lot of strong female personalities. And almost everyone is a writer. But the advice is all quite incremental. Like Sophie [Dahl, the former fashion model and author of The Man With The Dancing Eyes, Playing With The Grownups, and Miss Dahl’sVoluptuous Delights] might give advice about the publicity side of it and Liccy [Felicity Dahl, Roald’s second wife] will talk about age group. But there’s not just one thing. You know, I tried very hard when I was younger to keep separate from the Dahl [name], but I think that actually his work is so beloved, it doesn’t feel like I should try to pretend this is not a part of my family’s life.